Moments
by rubykateweasley
Summary: COMPLETE. How will Hermione and Ron cope with spending the whole of the holidays practically alone together in Hogwarts? (HGRW, HPGW)
1. Chapter One

Moments  
Or the Romance of Ronald Weasley

Author: Kitty-Rose (seraphimoftheskies@hotmail.com)

Rating: So far, G

Pairing: Hermione/Ron

Disclaimer: None of this is mine  
A/N: thanks to Ashley for beta reading this chapter.

***

The three students looked up desperately as Dumbledore entered the common room. They looked as though they hadn't slept all night, which Dumbledore thought, knowing them and their relationship with Harry Potter was probably true. 

Ron was sprawled in an armchair, and, until Dumbledore had entered, had been staring at the floor with an empty look on his face. Hermione and Ginny were sitting up straight anxiously on the sofa, as though they couldn't relax at all. Hermione was the first to speak; Ron was still looking empty and Ginny looked too frantic to be able to form words.

"Will he be alright?" Hermione asked steadily, although her face betrayed her emotion.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Madam Pomfrey has informed me that Mr. Potter does not seem to be injured or in any way ill."

Ginny sighed in relief, and Ron began to look less empty and more relieved. But Hermione frowned. "What you do you mean, _seem_ to be?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Observant as ever, Miss. Granger. Yes, you see, Mr. Potter has still not come round. In fact, it's not expected that he will return to consciousness for some time. It was powerful magic that knocked him out. But, rest assured, he is in perfectly fine condition and the rest should probably do him some good, after all the stress of exams and battling against a very powerful dark wizard."

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Ron spoke at last, eyes shining in relief but still concern.

            "It's not certain, Mr. Weasley, but Madam Pomfrey informs me it will take around two months."

The students gasped. "Two months?" Hermione asked. "But that's the whole of the holidays and a while after that! What's going to happen to him during all that time? He's not going back to the Dursleys', is he?"

            "You mustn't send him there!" Ginny blurted, and Hermione took her hand comfortingly, despite looking just as worried.

            "Don't worry, Miss Granger, Miss Weasley." Dumbledore smiled kindly. "I think that it is in Harry's best interests, to stay here, at Hogwarts, over the summer."

            Ron, Hermione and Ginny all breathed another sigh of relief.

"I shall be here during the summer, although I shall be very busy, and Hagrid will be around. Harry will need more company than that, however, Madam Pomfrey informs me that he should be spoken to every day, to increase the time it will take before he wakes up. He shan't require any medical care, just a watchful eye and friendly conversation, and Madam Pomfrey will be ready to come and check on him should she receive notification. And I am certain I have found the two most suitable people to take on these duties. Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, I have spoken with your families and you are to stay here, in the holidays, to be the carers of Harry Potter."

            Ron and Hermione nodded slowly, but Ginny looked devastated. "But please, I have to stay with Harry!"  

            Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid your mother wishes you to return home, Miss Weasley. And I'm sure that you will be able to visit every now and then, and Miss Granger and your brother will write to you regularly informing you of any news."

            "Of course, we will, Ginny, I promise," Hermione said, squeezing Ginny's hand, but she could not be comforted.

*****

The next day, Ron and Hermione walked with Ginny to the gates of the castle, where there were crowds of students panicking over forgotten goodbyes and lost trunks.

"Talk to Mum and come and visit whenever you can," Ron told Ginny, giving her a brotherly hug and ruffling her hair just like Bill and Charlie used to do to him. 

"I'll write to you every day," Hermione promised. "And if you want you can write Harry letters and I'll read them to him."

            Ginny nodded, and tried to smile through her tears. Ron and Hermione couldn't help the fact they were the ones allowed to stay, after all, and they were good friends to her. 

            "Thanks, Hermione," she said. "I'll do that." She knew however, that she couldn't write what she really wanted to tell Harry right now. Nobody could know that, not yet. 

            She waved goodbye to her brother and best friend from the boat, trying to stop the tears now that she was away from the safety of her friends and instead in the company of people she barely knew. Hermione and Ron waved back, and as Ginny watched, she saw her brother put her arm around Hermione.

Ginny sat back in the boat, and steadied herself. Ron and Hermione would look out for each other, and they could look after Harry. But who was going to look after her?

*****

"So this is it, then," Hermione said, slowly, as the boat disappeared across the lake.

            "This is it," Ron agreed, then frowned. "This is what?"

            "The beginning of a whole summer with nobody but you for company," Hermione rolled her eyes. "What an experience this is going to be."

Ron stuck his tongue out. "You've got Harry for company too, kind of."

"He'll be more riveting company than you, that's for sure," Hermione said, grinning, and then ran back towards the castle before Ron could catch her. 

            Ron was the faster runner, but Hermione quickly disappeared behind some trees and Ron had no idea which way she'd gone. He had a fair idea of where she was heading, however, and he went on towards the castle, straight to Harry.

Harry was in his bed, in the boy's dormitories. As he wasn't actually ill, Madam Pomfrey had said there was no need for him to remain in the hospital wing, and that he might as well sleep in the comfort of his own bed, especially as Ron and Hermione wanted to be near him at all times and Madam Pomfrey said she did not wish to return to a hospital wing full of books and chocolate frogs. 

When Ron entered, Hermione was kneeling on the floor, gazing at Harry, deep in thought. Ron crept up behind her, and then began to tickle her, laughing as she struggled in his arms. She managed to roll away from him and left him in a heap on the floor.

            Standing up and brushing down her clothes, she said "Really, Ronald Weasley, anybody would think you were still eight years old."

            Ron sat up sheepishly. "That's what comes of being the youngest of five brothers," he said. 

            Hermione smiled, and then looked towards Harry again. "He looks happy, doesn't he?"

            "I wonder what he's dreaming of," Ron leaned on the bed and watched Harry's face intently. 

"Look at that big smile," he commented. "Perhaps he's dreaming of being all alone in Honeydukes."

            Hermione laughed. "Again, anybody would think you were still eight years old."

            Ron looked up, grinning. "Hey! Sweets aren't just for kids. You know how Dumbledore likes his sherbert lemons, and if he's not a grown up, I don't know who is!"

            Hermione sighed, in mock annoyance, and turned, walking towards the door. She did love her play arguments with Ron. It was like having a brother, or something.

            "Where are you going?" Ron called after her, turning away from Harry.

            "To get my stuff," She called back. "You don't think I'm going to sleep in the girls' dormitory all by myself do you? It'd get so boring."

            "Thought you said I was boring company?" Ron winked.

            Hermione paused in the doorway. "Yes," she said, and smiled. "But you have your moments." Then she was gone.


	2. Chapter Two

One of the first things Hermione and Ron did after the novelty of watching Harry sleep wore off was to go and explore the castle, to find out exactly who they were sharing it with this summer.  
  
The portrait to the common room wasn't password-restricted, seeing as the only people around were Ron and Hermione, who were perfectly entitled to be in there, and various staff members who were permitted to venture anywhere. The Fat Lady wasn't even in the portrait, Ron and Hermione noticed as they slipped out, Hermione striding ahead as usual.  
  
"Perhaps she's on holiday," Ron commented.  
  
"Perhaps they've all gone together," Hermione suggested, gazing up at the other empty portraits that lined the corridor. "Do you think they've all gone together?"  
  
"I don't know. Where would they go?"  
  
"Another portrait, I suppose."  
  
"I'd want to go to that one," Ron decided, pointing up at a painting of a moonlit, flowery-filled meadow. He paused to look at it and then ran to catch up.  
  
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "A bit romantic for you, isn't it?"  
  
"Well, the stars look really nice. You know I like stars." Ron blushed a little.  
  
Hermione merely smirked.  
  
"Anyway," Ron retorted. "I bet you'd just want to go there." He gestured to a painting of a study lined with books and papers, its resident scholar currently absent.  
  
"Actually, I'm on my ideal holiday right now," Hermione said, smirking smugly.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Alone in Hogwarts, well, pretty much, isn't that exciting?" Hermione turned around and walked backwards, her face lit up. "Ever since I first saw this place in a picture in the textbooks, I knew I wanted to explore it properly from top to bottom." She grinned. "Just never thought you'd be the person to share my ideal holiday." She turned, and began walking normally again.  
  
"What's wrong with sharing a holiday with me?" Ron asked playfully.  
  
"Oh, nothing," Hermione said airily.  
  
Ron looked suspicious as they sauntered around the corner. Quite suddenly, they found themselves almost walking into, or rather through, Nearly Headless Nick.  
  
"Oh, there you are!" He cried triumphantly. "I was just looking for you."  
  
"You were?" Ron composed himself, hoping he hadn't looked too startled.  
  
"Yes. Dumbledore asked me to run through a few things with you. He's a busy man you know, always off somewhere or another."  
  
"Of course." Hermione smiled, nodding.  
  
"So, what does he want us to know?" Ron asked with a sideways glance at Hermione. He was determined to act as confident as she always did, now that Harry wasn't around to outshine him.  
  
"Oh many things, I expect, but he wouldn't have told me all of them. He likes people to find out things for themselves," Nick chuckled knowingly. "Shall we walk together for a while?"  
  
And so they walked together, well, Nick floated, down the stairs and out a side door Ron nor Hermione knew existed. In the hot, summery weather, the grounds of Hogwarts looked beautiful, teaming with butterflies and brightly coloured flowers that they had never seen before, having never been at Hogwarts in the main summer months.  
  
Every place seemed strangely deserted and peaceful. Ron tagged along behind while Hermione and Nick discussed all the aspects of the castle, from architecture to history, for it seemed Nick was quite an expert and Hermione was always eager to learn.  
  
Ron managed to accumulate various pieces of information of interest to him, however, even as he sulked unnoticed behind them. Apart from the three of them, the only other people to be staying all summer were the House Elves, who were hard at work to keep the castle warm and clean throughout the summer for any of the staff who might drop by. Most of the ghosts had gone on holiday, except for Nick, who had decided to stay at home for once, barely being able to remember what the castle felt like when it was quiet.  
  
"I'd watch out for Peeves, though," he warned. "I wouldn't put it past him to have just pretended to leave the castle."  
  
"Of course," Hermione agreed firmly.  
  
"As for the staff, most of them have gone back to their spouses for the summer," Nick continued.  
  
"They're married?" Ron asked in disbelief.  
  
"Some of them, yes. Although I couldn't tell you anything about their families. I don't care much for gossip anymore, far too complicated. There are families of many of the teachers, though, living in Hogsmeade."  
  
"Oh, great." Ron sighed. "The teachers aren't far away, then."  
  
"Ron!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Like it matters. Do tell me more about the castle, Nick. Do you remember before Dumbledore was headmaster? Were things much different before him?"  
  
Neither Hermione nor Nick noticed when Ron quietly slipped away.  
  
***  
  
"It was so boring," Ron confided in Harry, who was still sleeping as peacefully as he smiled. "They were just talking on and on about the castle. She never stops wanting to learn things. I think it's her idea of fun." He paused, then sighed. "You smiling like that isn't very helpful. Can't you look sympathetic?"  
  
Harry's expression didn't change, and Ron reached out and tried to gently poke Harry's face into some kind of frown.  
  
"Ronald Weasley, what are you doing to poor Harry?" Hermione demanded, appearing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.  
  
Ron pulled his hand back guiltily. "I was just trying to see if I could make him stop smiling."  
  
"Why on earth would you want to do that?" Hermione crossed the room and sat down on the other side of Harry.  
  
"I don't know." Ron shrugged.  
  
"He still looks happy and calm, that's a good thing."  
  
"I still think he's dreaming about Honeydukes."  
  
"He's probably dreaming about beating you at chess." Hermione smirked, rummaging through her trunk, which she'd dragged in earlier.  
  
"What are you doing?" Ron asked curiously, ignoring her chess remark.  
  
"Looking for a quill and paper. I'm going to write to Ginny. Do you have anything you want me to say to her, or would you like to write one yourself?" Hermione held up a quill and paper triumphantly and began to write, leaning on a book.  
  
"I only saw her this morning, there's hardly anything to say!" Ron said doubtfully.  
  
"She'll be lonely, Ron." Hermione looked up, a serious expression on her face. "We should give her as much comfort as we can."  
  
"I suppose so. Can I borrow a quill?"  
  
Hermione sighed and pulled another one from her trunk.  
  
"Thanks. Er.. can I borrow some paper too?"  
  
"Really! Just because it's summer, that's no excuse to be so unorganised." She produced some paper anyway, handing it to him with a stern look.  
  
"Yes, Miss Granger. Sorry, Miss Granger," Ron said sarcastically and stuck his tongue out.  
  
"Don't joke, Ron. One day, I might really be a teacher here and what will you be doing with your life then? Without any decent grades because of the fact you lose your pens and spill ink on your text books."  
  
"Ah, something will happen," Ron said dismissively, trying to look as though he was focusing on his letter. Deep down, he was quite worried himself about his future, still having no idea about his career aspirations other than the usual wanting to be Keeper for the England Quidditch team; wanting to be a millionaire. He couldn't think of any realistic occupations, and so, he generally avoided thinking about the future.  
  
Hermione watched him frown at his letter and frowned herself. Poor Ron, always so hopeless. Perhaps this summer she could teach him a thing or two.  
  
***  
  
Dear Ginny, Hi, it's me, your brother. Ron. So, how are you? Did you get back safely? Are Fred and George driving Mum crazy yet? Do you all miss me? It's strange to be here without everyone. Are you going to come and visit? Harry is fine. I think he's dreaming about sweet shops, or catching the golden snitch, because he's got a huge grin on his face. Hermione says he's probably dreaming about beating me at chess. Yeah, right. He knows he has no hope of ever doing that. Hermione says we have to go to dinner now, so bye bye.  
  
Love  
  
Ron xx  
  
Dear Ginny, I hope you got back safely. I miss you already. Harry is fine. He keeps smiling, I don't know what he's dreaming of but it must be something good. It's strange to be here without anybody else. Although, Sir Nicholas is here, and he's wonderful company. He has been telling me all kinds of interesting things about the castle. Your brother is good company too, but he can be a little too much to handle sometimes. Have you spoken to your mother about when you can come and visit? I look forward to it. I must go now, the house elves have our dinner ready for seven (that's in ten minutes).  
  
Lots of love,  
  
Hermione X 


	3. Chapter Three

A week went by. Harry didn't stop smiling, Hermione didn't grow bored of the castle, and Ron found that his feeling of uneasiness didn't go away. He was still worried about Harry, despite Madam Pomfey's polite replies to his letters, saying that he was perfectly fine and if he wasn't, she'd know about it. Ron had tried to mention it casually to Hermione, but she had only laughed and told him that he worried too much.  
  
It wasn't just that he was worried about Harry though. He was worried about something more, but he couldn't quite work out what it was. He'd expected the empty castle to feel more comfortable after a few days, but it still felt ominous and suspiciously quiet.  
  
"Well what do you expect? Of course it's quiet, there's nobody else here," Hermione said, when Ron caught her by the kitchens and told her his worries. She wore a slightly hopeless frown, having returned from telling the house elves what they'd have for dinner, and trying to persuade them to let her at least chop the vegetables or even lay the table.  
  
"I know, but it just feels. badly quiet. Like something's going to happen." Ron spoke awkwardly, his words in a rush, as they made their way back up the stairs to their dormitory.  
  
"Nothing's going to happen, Ron. Dumbledore's probably around somewhere, and I think Filch is still here."  
  
"What's Filch going to do?" Ron asked, scornfully. "Give them detentions till they die?"  
  
"Give who detentions?"  
  
"I don't know," Ron admitted, as though his words had surprised himself. "Whoever makes the bad things happen."  
  
Hermione laughed. "Really, Ron, nobody would believe you were fifteen, if it wasn't for your height."  
  
Ron blushed, but Hermione continued. "Anyway, Filch could raise the alarm and get help very easily if necessary. There are all manner of people in the area that we just don't necessarily see. So stop worrying."  
  
"I can't help it." Ron squirmed. "It just all feels so. uncomfortable."  
  
"Well you'd better cheer up before tomorrow," Hermione said. "Because before I went to the kitchens, we got an owl from Ginny. She's coming to visit for the day, tomorrow."  
  
*****  
  
The news of Ginny's visit cheered Ron up, a little. Perhaps something familiar would take his mind off things, let him relax.  
  
"Although of course, Hermione is familiar," Ron mused to Harry, kneeling on the floor and leaning his elbows on the bed. "Perhaps overly familiar. Sometimes she's just so annoying. Well, you know she can be sometimes, but when you're spending forever with her it's worse. Especially because we have nothing to do."  
  
"We have all kinds of things to do," Hermione said, making Ron jump guiltily because he hadn't heard her come in. She showed no signs of hearing the first part of what he'd said however, focussing only on the last sentence. "We've got the whole library to look at, without stupid people throwing paper aeroplanes or trying to sneak into the restricted section - no, Ron," she said quickly, seeing his excited look. "Don't get any ideas, we'll still not be able to get in, even though it's the holidays."  
  
Ron fell back to being bored. "The library is not exciting."  
  
"There's the house elves to talk to, they're not as busy at the moment so they have time to talk. They tell fascinating stories, you know."  
  
"Not interested in that, either."  
  
"Really, Ron, what does interest you, then?"  
  
Ron sat up, looking excited. "Quidditch!"  
  
*****  
  
Hermione had never been a particularly confident flyer, and had never had any real aspirations to play Quidditch, being a realistic thinker and knowing that she'd never be able to concentrate up there.  
  
"Come on," Ron cried, poised in front of the goal hoops, ready for her attempt to score.  
  
"Don't rush me," Hermione insisted, and tried to focus on the Quaffle in her hand. It felt lighter than she'd expected, and it was wriggling impatiently in her hand. It's almost like the netball they'd played in primary school, she told herself, only the trouble was, she hadn't been any good at that, either. She took a deep breath, and prepared to score, only at that moment, the Quaffle leapt out of her hands and began to do laps around the pitch.  
  
"Why did it do that?" Hermione gasped, in surprise, and almost falling off her broom.  
  
"It probably got bored of you sitting around all day." Ron rolled his eyes. "Go and get it."  
  
"No, I don't want to."  
  
"I'll go then," Ron said, importantly, and charged across the pitch, and then swerved violently left by mistake. "I thought perhaps it was heading in that direction," He called out, quickly. "But obviously it was a double bluff."  
  
Hermione giggled, as the Quaffle, who had shown no signs of even noticing Ron was there, began to weave in and out of the goal hoops, encouraging a breathless Ron to hurry back.  
  
"Actually, this is quite fun," Hermione said, as she flew carefully over to rescue Ron from where he was hanging precariously from the goal hoop, the agitated Quaffle in his mouth, and his broomstick in his other hand.  
  
"You would say that," he grumbled, "You're not actually doing anything. Can you take my broom from me, and hold it steady?"  
  
"I want to hold on with both hands," Hermione said, a little pathetically, remembering what had happened when she'd taken her hand off the broom to hold the Quaffle.  
  
"Well, how else am I going to get down?" Ron said, annoyed. "Hurry up, my hand's aching."  
  
"You'll just have to climb on mine, in front of me," Hermione said, trying to sound firm. She had had enough of flying now, and perhaps the experience would be nicer with Ron in charge of the broom. Besides, she couldn't see any other way of getting him down.  
  
Ron sighed. "If that's the only way you'll help me. If you can't even be brave enough to save your best friend's life."  
  
"Just get on, will you?" Hermione tried to manoeuvre the broom as close as possible to him, shifting backwards, and Ron settled down in front of her with a bump. Hermione gave a little squeal, and the broom rocked jerkily, pushing downwards until Ron let go of the Quaffle and grabbed the broom, pulling it upwards again.  
  
"Don't panic like that!" He said, crossly, the shock from the near-accident getting to him.  
  
"I didn't mean to!" Hermione shot back. "I was frightened!"  
  
"There's no need to be frightened with me in control of the broom." Ron dodged the Quaffle, which had started doing laps again, and headed towards the lake.  
  
"Ron! No!" Hermione clung tightly to him, and shut her eyes. "I don't like flying, you know I don't!"  
  
"I know," Ron said, trying to be a little more comforting. "But I want to have some fun! You'll be fine, don't worry, I wouldn't let you fall. Think of all those times I've gone with you to the library cuz you were desperate for fun."  
  
"Alright then." Hermione spoke quietly, "But not for long."  
  
"Can you try squeezing me a little less tight?" Ron asked, "Or we might just have an accident."  
  
Hermione obediently loosened her grip. She buried her face in Ron's shoulder as they passed over the lake, its surface rippling in the afternoon breeze. They were flying into the wind and the air felt cool against her, her hair blowing back behind her.  
  
"Go on, look, it's looks beautiful," Ron said, gazing down below.  
  
Hermione gingerly lifted her head, and opened her eyes. "There's that romantic side of you again," She said, giggling nervously.  
  
"But it does look beautiful, doesn't it?"  
  
"Yes," Hermione admitted. "It does."  
  
It was late in the afternoon. The horizon was beginning to redden, as the sun moved lower in the sky, and the moon was visible behind a few wisps of cloud. Shadows from the trees fell across the edge of the lake, and all that could be seen in the water there was dark reflections. In the centre of the lake, Hermione could see themselves reflected in the water, rippling and barely visible but for Ron's orange hair and her own bushy hair flying out behind them. Self-consciously she tugged at it, trying to keep it still.  
  
"Look!" said Ron, excitedly. "The first star!"  
  
"That's not a star, Ron, that's Venus. Don't you pay any attention in Astrology?"  
  
"Don't spoil it, Hermione," Ron said quietly.  
  
"I'm sorry." Hermione fell silent after her apology. They were circling the lake now, and the Quaffle zoomed past them occasionally.  
  
"Don't you think it'd be really nice to be up here at sunset?" Ron thought aloud, and then was suddenly aware of what he'd said. "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're going to say!" He said playfully, before Hermione could say anything.  
  
Hermione smiled. "It would be nice at sunset, yes." She didn't say anything about his other comment, and after a while, Ron spoke again:  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"Yes, Ron?"  
  
"You know what you say about me being romantic?"  
  
"Yes, Ron."  
  
He could tell she was smiling, and he quickly went on. "Is that a good thing? I mean, er. do girls like that or will they just think I'm a bit. you know, effeminate?"  
  
"I think it's charming, Ron," Hermione said, affectionately.  
  
"Yeah but. it's not really you who matters is it? I mean." Ron tailed off, suddenly embaressed.  
  
"I know. Well I think a lot of girls would find it charming," Hermione reassured him. "And more importantly, they'd want you to be yourself."  
  
"I suppose so."  
  
There was silence again. Hermione felt as though she getting used to the flight now, or at least, the way it flew smoothly under Ron's control, rather than the unstable jerkiness of when she was in charge. She leaned forward and rested her head on Ron's shoulder.  
  
"You're not closing your eyes again are you? It's still beautiful!"  
  
"I know, I've got my eyes open, I'm just tired, that's all."  
  
"How can you be tired? It's nowhere near bedtime, and we have hardly done anything today!"  
  
"All the doing nothing wore me out." Hermione smiled sleepily, arms squeezing Ron a little tighter again, but he didn't complain.  
  
"Shall we go back to the castle, then?" He asked.  
  
"If you've finished having fun."  
  
"I think this'll do for today." He turned the broom around, caught the speeding Quaffle with one hand, and headed back home.  
  
A/N Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! I'm sorry this one took a while, I've been all out of inspiration recently. I've already started the next chapter, however, and it'll be up very shortly! If it isn't, or if you just want to say hello, email me! It'll probably get me back into feeling creative. And thanks to Jo for beta reading this! 


	4. Chapter Four

"Ron! I'm sorry, but please wake up!" Hermione shook him gently, and then with increasing force as he tried to roll over and ignore her. "Ginny's going to be here soon!"

Ron groaned and opened his eyes. "Little sisters are so annoying!"

"I know, Ron, I know." Hermione helpfully pushed him out of bed. "I'm sorry, but at least you'll be wide awake now. I'm going to tell the house elves that we'll have an extra guest at lunchtime."

She was fully dressed already, Ron noted, sitting up on the floor as Hermione hurried out of the room. He sighed, and pulled himself to his feet. 

"You're so lucky," he said, enviously to Harry. "You get to sleep as much as you like.

*****

"Come on, Ron!" Hermione called, standing at the end of the corridor and waiting for him to stagger after her.

"I'm still asleep," protested Ron. "No wait, I'm dead, or something."

Hermione took his arm and tried to drag him along a little faster. "I'm sorry if I'm always nagging you," she said. "But this is important."

"She's only my sister," Ron mumbled. "And since when do you apologise for nagging?"

Hermione ignored his last comment. "She may well be only your sister but the point is, we have to look responsible enough to look after ourselves, and Harry! You never know who might be watching!" She said the last part in a whisper.

Ron just frowned.

*****

"Oh dear," Hermione muttered, as they left the castle and entered the grounds, blinking in the strong sunlight. 

"What? Oh."

Ginny was looking around anxiously for them, and behind her, Fred and George were just getting off their broomsticks, laden down with boxes.

Ginny hurried up to them the second she saw them, and spoke very quickly. "How's Harry? I'm sorry but Mum wouldn't let me come alone, I made them promise to behave but I don't know what's in those boxes. How's Harry?"

"He's fine," Hermione told her. She turned to Ron. "Ron, how about you deal with your brothers while I take Ginny up to see Harry?" She gave Ron a very meaningful look, and Ron woke up rather quickly.

The girls disappeared into the castle, and Ron looked suspiciously over the twins.

"Hello, little bro!" Fred called, and George just waved, unable to talk as he seemed to have his mouth full of something.

"What's in all those boxes?" Ron asked, awkwardly. "Only remember I'm staying here all alone with Hermione and I don't want things to get difficult."

"Don't worry," Fred ruffled Ron's hair as they walked past. "We won't make things awkward for you and your girlfriend."

"She's not my-" protested Ron, but Fred was still talking.

"We just wanted to come back and see the castle," he was saying. "We've missed it, haven't we, George?"

George nodded and made agreeing sounds.

"So what's in the boxes?" Ron asked, still suspicious.

"Oh, just stuff," Fred said, carelessly. "Open the door for us, will you, Ron?"

Ron opened the door, wondering if this was going to prove to be a mistake. 

*****

"I'll leave you alone with him," Hermione said kindly, sensing Ginny's thoughts and wondering whether Ron could hold Fred and George back alone.

"Thank you."

Hermione closed the door behind her, and Ginny walked slowly over to Harry's bed. Harry was smiling, just like Hermione and Ron had told her, and it made Ginny break into a smile as well. Then tears overtook her, and she kneeled by his side, sobbing gently and dripping tears onto his sheets.

She took his hand, and stroke it gently, and watched him sleep. He shifted slightly, and Ginny held her breath, but nothing happened. She supposed he was just moving in his sleep. That made her feel a little better. At least it was clear he wasn't dead.

"Um, they said I should talk to you," she began, feeling rather silly. "So I am, but well, I'm not quite sure what to say. It's good to see you smiling. I… I miss you. I don't know I can still miss you even though I'm here, but I do. I hope you're having nice dreams."

She reached out and pushed the hair from his eyes, careful to avoid his scar. He felt comfortably warm to touch, and she smiled. He smiled wider too, and leaned his head on her hand slightly. Ginny felt her worries about his health slip away, only to find other worries resurface. 

"Do you remember," Ginny said, still stroking his face. "How I used to have a sort of childish crush on you? I hoped to death you'd never find out, but looking back, you probably did. Even if you didn't work it out, Hermione probably did and told you. Anyway," she paused. "I don't have that childish crush anymore. It's something… different now." 

She fell silent, not sure what other words there were to say. At that moment, there was a loud crash from downstairs.

*****

Hermione was wandering the corridors, looking for the boys, when she heard the crash, and was immediately worried. She hurried in the direction of the sound, and eventually found herself looking down a spiral staircase at them.

"Really!" She said, crossly. "You are so irresponsible!"

"Don't talk down to us, you're not a prefect in the holidays, and besides, we're not students anymore." Fred said, casually, picking up one of the boxes from the bottom of the stairs.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded, ignoring him.

"Just dropped some things, that's all."

"What are they anyway?" Hermione glared at Ron, who was standing awkwardly next to the twins and the pile of boxes. Ron tried to look apologetic, but Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"Well, these ones are boxes of sweets for you two. Free gifts from our shop, as an example of our new sideline." Fred smiled broadly. "Unless you'd rather we took them away…"

"Now, don't be silly, just take them upstairs, _tidily_ please." Hermione stood back, and let them pass. Ron tried to smile apologetically again as he passed, but she ignored him and kept her eyes on the twins.

*****

Ginny looked up as the door opened, and in came her brothers and Hermione.

"Hello, Ginny, Hello, Harry," Fred said cheerfully, putting the boxes down by Harry's bed. "He looks happy, doesn't he?"

"I think he'll have his dreams come true when he wakes up," Ron said, eying the boxes happily.

"That's if you haven't eaten them all, Ron," Hermione said, and Fred chuckled. 

"I can see you're having a good time," He said to Ron, beginning to open one of the boxes. Ron chuckled too, and Hermione looked annoyed, but then she was distracted by the box. "What's in there? That's not sweets!"

"No, the other boxes are for the sweets. This one's for something else."

"Like what? You can't do that! I'm in charge of Harry, and I won't have you do that!"

Ginny looked up warily from where she was still kneeling beside Harry. "Is that a Wake-up Wonder?"

"That's right."

"You surely don't except that to work," Hermione said, cynically. "Really. If you've just come here to waste everybody's time…"

There was a deafening crack and Hermione sighed. 

Harry showed no signs of waking, although his smile seemed to subside a bit, and Ginny, who was nearest, quickly crawled away, rubbing her ears.

Fred seemed to have complete immunity to it however, and rummaged around in his box for something else.

"Nothing's going to work," Hermione informed them, again.

"It might do," George said, apparently having swallowed whatever it was that had stuck his mouth shut. "And think how famous we'd be for waking Harry Potter!"

"It'd be like a huge advert," Fred commented, trying to pull the stopper off a bottle.

"And we'd be doing a friend a favour," George finished.

"You're not doing him any favours," Hermione insisted. "He needs his rest."

*****

After what seemed like a very long afternoon, Fred and George agreed that nothing would wake Harry up. Hermione looked very relieved. Ron was paying no attention, instead working his way through one of the boxes of sweets. Ginny was sitting on the floor, lost in thought and looking rather worried.

"At least it gave us a chance to try some of the new stuff out," George said, packing the remains of it back into the boxes.

"You mean this was _untested merchandise?" Hermione asked, shocked. "I should report you to the authorities."_

"We knew it'd work," Fred assured her. "Look, to calm you down, have a Soothing Strawberry."

"Or a Relaxing Raspberry," suggested George.

"I don't need calming down!" Hermione said, testily, and the twins sniggered.

*****

Hermione and Ron went to see the others off, and again promised to keep writing to Ginny every day. She seemed more upset this time than last, although she was crying less. That only made Hermione more suspicious. There was something in Ginny's eyes that showed she was unhappy, something in her quiet manner.

"Probably just tired," Ron said, when Hermione mentioned it to him later. "Or worried about Harry."

"I don't see why. Am I the only one who trusts Madam Pomfrey?"

"Well, some of us are worried about his emotional side," Ron pointed out.

Hermione smiled. "You really are becoming quite romantic. And I'm not teasing you or putting you down, it's a nice thing."

"Yeah well…." Ron diverted his attention to a box of Every Flavour Beans. "Just growing up, aren't I?"

"It's nice to see."


	5. Chapter Five

"Ron, are you annoying Harry again?"

"How do you do that?" Ron didn't look up, and continued to wave his chocolate frog over Harry's nose.

"Do what?" Hermione asked, crossing the room and picking up a frog of her own.

"Come in the room exactly as I'm doing something a little bit strange with Harry."

"I don't know," Hermione replied, putting her Witches and Wizards card in the pile of cards they were saving for Harry. "Perhaps you just do it so often that I can't help but see you doing it every time I walk in."

Ron said nothing, and nudged Harry's nose gently with the chocolate frog.

"So," Hermione said, again. "What are you doing to Harry?"

 "I was just trying to see if he smiled more when I held the chocolate over his mouth. I want to know if it is sweets he's dreaming about."

"What makes you think he'll know if you're waving chocolate around like an idiot?" Hermione asked, coming over and taking a chocolate frog for herself.

"Well, I do sometimes pay attention in Divination, and Professor Trelawney once told us about how to work out what someone was dreaming about…" Ron went back to waving chocolate over Harry's mouth, and wondered whether it was having any effect.

"Haven't you got something more worthwhile to do with your time?"

"Not really," Ron admitted. "Like I said before, it's so boring round here."

"Do you want to go out flying some more? I quite enjoyed it last time." Hermione smiled.

Ron ate the chocolate himself, with a quick: "Sorry, Harry." Then he turned back to Hermione. "Really?"

"Yeah. There's nothing else really to do, anyway."

"You've finally got bored of the library?" Ron said, with a cheeky grin.

"Well, it's not so fun on my own," Hermione said, wistfully. "I know what you mean now, about things seeming too quiet. And I know you're not going to want to come in there with me, so that's what got me thinking about flying instead."

"You'll come with me to do what I love, even though I won't do it for you?" Ron asked, a little surprised.

"I do like it, a bit." Hermione smiled. "I'm getting used to it, and it'll be good for me to get better at flying."

"I can give you some lessons, if you like," Ron said, standing up and stuffing some of the sweets in his pocket. "In return for you continuing to let me borrow your notes next year."

"Ron!" Hermione said, but she was smiling. "As long as you don't expect me to do your homework for you."

"No, just giving me yours will be fine." Ron grinned, and then ran for the doorway before she could catch him.

*****

Hermione stumbled breathless into the castle grounds, where Ron was waiting, already on his broomstick.

"Climb on in front," he called to her.

"In front?" she repeated, looking nervous. "Aren't you going to control it again?"

Ron shook his head. "I think you should have a go. Like you said, it'll be good for you to get better at flying."

Hermione looked hesitantly at the broom.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to stop it do anything stupid. Just have confidence… you're in Gryffindor for a reason, remember?"

Hermione smiled, and carefully took her place in front of Ron. As the broom started to rock gently, she felt almost as though she hadn't ever flown before. She was reminded of her anxious flights before, the ones that seemed so distant from that time with Ron.

"Don't worry," Ron said, sensing her discomfort, and holding her steady. "It'll be fine!"

"Yes," Hermione said, trustingly, and concentrated hard on steadying the broom.

"If I shut my eyes," she began, as they began to head towards the lake. "Will you shout out directions to me?"

"If you like. But why do you want to shut your eyes?"

"It feels nice when I have my eyes shut."

Hermione closed her eyes, and suddenly felt so much more conscious of every little sensation: the cool wind in her hair, the weightless feeling in her stomach, and Ron's strong arms around her waist. 

"I think the sun's going to set soon," Ron said, gazing up at the sky. "It must be later than I thought."

"Me too. Must be because we've been cooped up indoor all day. We should come outside more often. Let me know when it starts looking really pretty, and I'll open my eyes."

"Alright then. Steer left a little bit here, just enough to keep circling the lake."

"Like this?"

"A little bit less… yes, like that."

 Ron continued to look up at the sky. On one side of them, the sky was turning purple, and on the other, it was a deep red. The air was starting to turn cold, and he hugged Hermione a little tighter for warmth.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sensing him move closer.

"I'm cold," he explained.

"So am I, a little," she agreed. "We should bring warmer robes next time."

"It's starting to look really pretty," Ron commented. "You should open your eyes now."

Hermione opened her eyes, and was a little surprised by how quickly the sky had changed. "Isn't it beautiful?" she breathed.

"Yes, it is," Ron nodded.

"It's a pity we're not on a date," Hermione said dreamily. "Or this would be ever so romantic."

"Doesn't stop it being romantic. The sky, I mean. Not us," Ron tailed off, confusing himself.

Hermione didn't seem to notice. "Well, that's true. If you take one of the meanings of 'romantic' as being 'poetic', as many people do, then that fits perfectly."

"It takes all the romance out of it if you talk about it like that, as if it's got rules," Ron argued.

"Everything has rules, Ron, even emotions."

"Well, us being friends doesn't have rules."

"Perhaps that's why we're always arguing." Hermione sounded distant, almost, as if she couldn't quite be bothered to argue anymore when she could be looking at the sky.

"Maybe," Ron said, a little disappointed at the lack of an argument. "You know, I think we _like arguing with each other."_

"_I don't like it!" Hermione laughed. Then she seemed to change her mind. "Well, maybe. I suppose we wouldn't stay friends otherwise."_

"I wish Harry could be here, with us," Ron said, thinking back to his sleeping friend. "I think he'd like it."

"I don't know, it's nice just the two of us," Hermione considered. "I think Harry would get bored. Having said that, I didn't expect you to like sunsets."

"And why not?"

"I don't know, you're just always so _boyish_."

"Only when my brothers are around. Or Harry. It's quite nice to take some time off from being boyish every now and then."

"Are you telling me that I get to see a special side of Ronald Weasley that nobody else does?" Hermione teased. "Aren't I lucky?"

"Don't I get to see a special side of you too, though?" Ron retorted. "How many other people do you apologise to for nagging?"

Ron could vaguely see Hermione smile in the dim light. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

"It's getting very dark," Ron commented. "Perhaps we should go back."

"No… not yet," Hermione said, quickly. "I'm still having fun. We'll be alright… if we keep flying over the lake there won't be anything to bump into."

"Alright then. But I'm still cold."

"Me too, but just ignore it."

The last traces of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon as the two Gryffindors watched, and Hermione leaned back a little on Ron's shoulder in contentment. Something about the whole thing suddenly made Ron feel very uneasy, and it struck him that having Hermione leaning on his shoulder made him tingle all over. He was a little scornful of himself, he couldn't quite imagine being so romantic as to go all funny over the slightest little thing, and then suddenly some other kind of feeling came tumbling over him, as if it wasn't such a little thing after all, and that it was actually something quite important.

"Sit up, Hermione, it's uncomfortable." Ron nudged her, before he could really make sense of what he'd said or what he was thinking. She sat up quickly, and for a second he thought she was blushing. 

"We can go back now, if you want," she said.

"Alright then," Ron agreed, still feeling a bit uncomfortable.

As she turned the broom towards the castle, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable herself. The beauty of the sunset had obviously got to her and made her feel a little more romantic, she assured herself. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd attempted to seduce him or anything – the thought of that made her want to laugh – she'd only leaned on his shoulder, for Merlin's sake. He was just over-reacting. Or maybe she was the one over-reacting, she thought suddenly. Maybe he was just uncomfortable, maybe he didn't really think anything of it as soon as she'd sat forward again. 

Hermione Granger suddenly realised, for the first time, that emotions didn't always have rules, and even if they did, they were often impossible to work out.

A/N 

Thanks to Jo again for beta reading. I seem to be stuck in a creative flow now so that's good! Hope you all like this chapter! A few notes to the people who did the most recent comments…

**Hermione: **Yes, I know that "badly wrong" isn't a very good way of putting it, but Ron's worried and he's going to word things clumsily sometimes. If it wasn't dialogue, I would have worded it correctly but few people speak 100% correctly, and I try and make dialogue in character, even if that means sounding clumsy. You're perfectly right with your other comment though, about my description of the sky, I did word that wrongly so I've corrected it now. And as for your comment about the Quaffle, well, I don't know. Maybe it flies and maybe it doesn't. The Snitch does, and the Bludgers do, so I decided maybe the Quaffle does if it gets bored. And if it doesn't, well I'll just use my artistic license to say it does and help the story along. Thanks for your comments!

**Slap-Me-Silly: **I'm glad you like it! Thanks a lot for putting up with my lack of updates, and for your comments! Knowing that people like my story makes me feel creative again.

**Codypup, Auroa M, TheSweetestThing, Athalia, The Girl Who Loves To Read, CoffeePleaze:  **Thanks! Hope you like the new chapter.

**Ron-Is-Mine: **I'm glad you liked the Ginny bits. I wasn't so sure about them myself, but it's nice to know that they were alright. Thanks!


	6. Chapter Six

"It was horrible," Ron confided in Harry. "I just tingled all over, for no reason. Have you ever had that happen?" He paused, and waited for an answer. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Harry, it's so _wonderful_ to have somebody here who feels just like I do and can tell me it's all alright."

"Well, you've got me."

Ron spun around. "Really, how the hell doyou do that?"

"I didn't do anything, I just came up from the Owlery. We got more letters from Ginny." Hermione threw him his letter. "What do you need support for anyway?

"Nothing," Ron said quickly, opening his letter. It said the usual stuff, about what Fred and George were up to at the shop, and how quiet it was without Ron, and how strange it was to be the only Weasley home for summer. He stuffed it in his pocket, to reply to later.

"I hope you're not wasting Harry's time with trivial conversation," Hermione said, as she read her own letter. 

"It wasn't trivial, just private. Besides, what difference does it make what we say to him? I doubt he really listens."

"Madam Pomfrey said he would. He just might not know whether he's listening or not."

Ron snorted. "Same thing!"

"No, it isn't, Ron, because sometimes things can help you without you knowing they are." Hermione folded Ginny's letter carefully, and placed it under her pillow so that she wouldn't lose it. "Just like I could be so helpful to you even if you don't think I would be. Now come, on tell me about what you were talking to Harry about, what made you tingle all over?"

"Nothing!" insisted Ron, standing up and crossing the room to look out of the window. Hermione frowned at his silhouetted figure at the window, and wondered what on earth the matter with him was. Then she suddenly was reminded of her own 'over-reaction' last night, and was suddenly very uncomfortable herself. Was that was he'd been talking about? Or was she just being silly again? Oh, how difficult these things were. She didn't press the matter any further, too uncertain. 

"The Bludger," Ron blurted suddenly, with a big smile. "Yesterday, while you were in the library, I was outside practising dodging Bludgers, and then one hit me on the head, and it didn't hurt as much as you might expect, but it just sort of tingled all over, you see…"

Hermione smiled, and went along with his excuse, but inside, her ideas were confirmed. She could see through Ron's lies like they were glass, and it leaned even more towards the fact that she might not have been just imagining things at all. He _had felt awkward about last night, but for what reason she couldn't say. Either he had some kind of feelings for her, or he felt that she had feeling for him. But how to go about proving one or another? She wasn't quite sure she even wanted to find out the truth, it was far too daunting. Perhaps it would wear off._

***

When Hermione had left the room to go and talk about dinner with the house elves, Ron lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling gloomily. He didn't dare talk aloud to Harry again in case Hermione turned out to have been standing in the doorway all along.

Hopefully Hermione had fallen for his excuse about the Bludger, although he had a nasty feeling that she knew him well enough to read his mind. He wasn't even quite sure why he'd felt the whole incident yesterday was important enough to talk to Harry about. All that had happened was that Hermione had leaned on him a bit too heavily and it was uncomfortable… and she'd moved as soon as he'd asked her to, anyway. He brushed aside more doubting feelings that seemed to be rising up within him. Surely that was it. What more could there be to it?

"You know, Harry," Ron said, casually. "I think I'm going crazy."

He looked up, but there was no sign of Hermione. "Well, she's not here now," Ron admitted. "But the second I say anything important, she'll be straight back here. You watch."

***

Hermione was actually on the other side of the castle, just leaving the kitchens after another failed attempt to get permission to lay the table. Her mind was full of Ron as she wandered down the corridor, which annoyed her, and she tried desperately to think of something else. It _would_ all wear off in a few days, they were always arguing and things always got better. This wasn't an argument though, admittedly, it was some kind of… tension… but she was sure it'd go away.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" A familiar voice boomed, in surprise.

"Hagrid!" Hermione greeted him warmly. "You remember, we're here looking after Harry."

Hagrid's brow creased into a frown. "Oh yes, I remember now. How is he? Woken up yet?"

"Not yet." Hermione smiled.

"Ah, well, he will soon enough, I'm sure. Bit of rest will do him good."

"Yes, that's what Madam Pomfrey said."

"Is Ron here too?"

"Yes, he is. He's with Harry at the moment."

"Do you two want to come to the hut for tea? I've missed the two of you. And Harry, of course."

"That would be lovely, Hagrid."

***

"Hagrid didn't seem worried about Harry at all, and you know how close they are," Hermione told Ron, who was uncharacteristically engrossed in a book. "So really, there's no reason to worry."

"Hmm," Ron said, vaguely, and turned the page. The book was, also uncharacteristically, 'Unfogging the Future' by Cassandra Vablatsky. 

Hermione sighed, and pulled out parchment and a quill in order to write to Ginny. She hesitated over the matter of mentioning Ron's strange behaviour, but decided against it. As it was partly due to her, she didn't want to draw any attention to it. Instead, she focussed on the nice weather they'd been having, and her conversation with Hagrid, and how it was very quiet and dull on the whole but she had found a new book on Potions in the library… She refrained from mentioning her and Ron's flying trips also, just in case. She wasn't quite sure what she was so worried about, but it was best to ignore it until it went away.

Ron was still reading, she noticed, as she looked up. He hadn't really shown any interest in Divination before, but then, she considered, remembering Ron dangling a chocolate frog over Harrys' nose the day before, maybe he was trying to decipher all his worries.

"Ron," she said. 

"What?" He didn't look up from the page.

"If you write a letter to Ginny now, I'll send it with mine. I'm about to go to the Owlery, but I can wait…"

"It's alright, I'll do it later."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

***

They made their way to Hagrid's hut in silence. Hermione strode ahead; walking faster helped her think faster, and her mind was still full of ideas. Ron on the other hand, preferred to trudge behind, wallowing in all his thoughts and mostly thinking about how he couldn't be bothered to think at all.

Hagrid was looking very pleased to see them. "It'll be nice to have some company," he said, beaming. "I've just got back from a nice nature study in the mountains."

"You didn't bring anything back with you, did you?" Hermione asked, doubtfully.

"Nah," Hagrid shook his head. "There was plenty of pretty creatures but nothing that would really survive outside the mountains."

Hermione smiled, but was surprised at Hagrid's common sense.

"Was it cold?" Ron asked, handing out a box of Every Flavour Beans. 

"It was bloody freezing," Hagrid said, happily. "Just the right climate for Swedish Short-snout dragons. Got to see some babies."

"How did you get close enough to see that?" Hermione asked curiously, wondering how Hagrid could be discreet.

"Ah, they just trust me. They can sense I know what I'm doing. Clever creatures, dragons."

"I half wish you'd brought one back," Ron said, who seemed to have forgotten the chaos Norbert had caused.

"Ron, really." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So," Hagrid asked. "Have you been having fun up in the castle?"

"Well, we were to start with, but things have been getting a little boring recently," Hermione said, and noticed that Ron had suddenly starting staring at the floor, slumped forward in his chair. 

"That's a shame, that is," Hagrid said, thoughtfully. "I'm afraid I'll be off again tomorrow, too. Got my tour of the more Southern dragons to do. Hoping to see some Peruvian Vipertooths."

"Aren't they incredibly poisonous?" Hermione asked, frowning again.

"Yes," Hagrid confirmed, cheerfully. "But that doesn't worry me. Dragons don't mind me, as I said."

"Well, just make sure you resist bringing any of those back."

"Nah," Hagrid said, dismissively. "I've realised that it's not right to bring dragons up here. I'm going to go for little things. Fish maybe. Mackled Malaclaws are quite easy to look after, I hear."

"Mackled what?" Ron asked, who was rather ignorant in such areas.

"At least that's not life-threatening," Hermione said, reluctantly. "But considering its bite gives you bad luck for a week, I don't think it'd be worth it. What fun can you get out of a lobster?"

"You just have to treat them right," Hagrid disagreed. "Anything can love you back if you're nice to it."

"A Murtlap would be better," Hermione suggested. "They're really quite harmless unless you step on it."

"You might be right there," Hagrid considered. "I'll see what's about."

Ron was starting to feel rather left out of this conversation, which continued until it was time for them to leave. By that point he was feeling very tired, as well as annoyed, and he was quite grateful to head straight for bed. 

***

"Are you alright, Ron?" Hermione asked, awkwardly, as they headed back to the castle.

"I'm fine," Ron said, with a quick smile, but Hermione was still suspicious.

"I… I just… if it's anything to do with me… you know it'll just get better by itself, soon. It always does." Hermione tried to sound comforting, but Ron obviously wasn't interested because he began to walk very quickly ahead of her. 

Hermione didn't make an attempt to catch up, and instead walked slowly, allowing him time to get to bed before she arrived. She wondered briefly if she'd made things worse, but decided not. Things _always_ got better between the two of them. Even though there hadn't been anything quite like this, before.

When she reached the top of the stairs leading to the dormitory, she stepped quietly, checking to see if Ron was talking to Harry again. If he was, she decided, she'd just turn back and sit in the common room till he was done. Talking to Harry probably got all his feelings a little straighter, and besides, she didn't_ mean to keep walking in on him._

She peered carefully around the doorframe, but Ron was in bed, it seemed, the curtains tightly drawn around him. No sound could be heard from inside, and so Hermione quietly tiptoed to bed.


	7. Chapter Seven

            Hermione had been sure the whole thing would be better within a week, but six days later things showed no signs of improving. Ron was still being strange, although, Hermione acknowledged, he was making attempts to hide it, and she suspected that if she didn't know him so well, she'd fall for it. In some ways she'd have preferred it if he was openly sulking and snapping, at least then they would know where they stood with each other, and it would take less time to fade.

            They hadn't been out flying together since that night that Hermione didn't like to think about. It was silly, she told herself firmly. Barely anything happened and look at all the trouble it had caused. Obviously the answer was, she thought, logically, to go out flying again, and make sure the evening went perfectly and completely _platonically _and without complications. That would solve all the tension, and things would be back how they were again.

            She looked over at his bed, where he was inside, with the curtains drawn, despite the fact it was midday. She presumed he was having a lie-in, although she hadn't checked. He'd taken to sleeping in late these days, and then spending the days outside being hit by Bludgers. She hadn't even caught him talking to Harry at all, and so Hermione had been talking to their sleeping friend twice as much in an effort to keep things normal. 

            Later, she mused, later, she could fix things.

***

Ron was lying hunched up in bed, reading his book again. He was trying to be as quiet as possible, so that Hermione would think he was asleep. It was easier to avoid Hermione than it was to hold back from snapping because he didn't know quite what he was thinking. And now that he had decided not to talk to Harry, all his thoughts tended to get muddled up in his head.

He put his book to one side, and slipped out his notebook from under his pillow, along with a rather bedraggled quill. He'd taken to writing his thoughts down, as compensation for not talking to Harry, and he'd worked out a way of doing it in diagrams, which was much clearer than saying it out loud anyway.

He carefully studied last night's diagram, which was quite similar to the other ones he'd done in the last few days. On one side of the page, was Hermione's name, written carefully in block capitals. There was an arrow connecting it to a box in the centre of the page, which contained the words 'Flying over lake and having nice time'. Both 'Hermione' and this box were linked to 'Weird tingly thing', which was linked to 'DEFINITELY DO NOT FANCY HERMIONE'. Ron carefully underlined this phrase three times, feeling it was the most important.

After looking at it for a few more seconds, Ron pushed it to one side and picked up his book again. He was reading the chapter on mind reading, in the hope that he could read his own mind and work out quite what was going on. Every now and then, however, his attention was reclaimed by the notebook and his scribbled diagrams, and Ron couldn't concentrate on the chapter at all.

He was having a rather funny feeling, that he was in what the book called 'denial'. He skimmed over the paragraph again, and then had another look at his diagram, and his heavily underlined phrase. Then he sighed heavily, and turned to the chapter, 'Love and How It Affects One's Mind'.

***

Some time later, Hermione approached Ron's curtains tentatively. "Ron?" she called out. "Are you in there?"

There was a pause, and then Ron answered, "Yes."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go flying with me later? We haven't done it in ages…"

There was another pause, and then the curtains opened. "That'd be nice," he said, smiling. It was a different kind of smile to the quick, awkward one of the last few days, but it wasn't quite his usual smirk either. Hermione didn't worry too much about it however, and was pleased that things were starting get better, or at least change.

As they walked down the stairs, Hermione decided to make a start at normal conversation again. "You know, we've been here for almost three weeks now."

"I know," Ron said, in a surprisingly more friendly tone than Hermione had expected. "I wish we had more time here."

"Thought you were bored?" 

            "Well, I am, sometimes, but I like it here."

            "Me too."

***

They hadn't talked about it but each was fully expecting that it would be Hermione who would control the broom again. She felt more confident this time, her mind full of plans to get Ron back to normal, and not really noticing the jerkiness of the broom.

Everything seemed to be fine so far, she noted, as they flew towards the lake. She'd been worried that perhaps he wouldn't want to come flying with her at all, but obviously things were on the way to getting better. 

"I don't think there's going to be a pretty sunset," Ron commented, looking up at the sky, worriedly. "Look at all those clouds…"

"Well, we can still have a nice time anyway." Hermione was anxious for nothing to interrupt them. Besides, perhaps an absence of sunset would make the whole thing feel more friendly than romantic, and then he'd be back to normal, once he realised that there weren't any romantic feelings to get worried about. Really, Hermione smiled to herself, crushes could be complicated even when they didn't exist.

Ron, on the other hand, was thinking quite the opposite. He was starting to accept the idea that he may well be in denial, and so carefully worked out a plan: to get into a romantic situation with Hermione – not with kissing or anything though, he thought in alarm, just something like seeing the sunset again – and then pay very close attention how he felt. Surely it couldn't be too difficult to work it out, if he was ready for it this time. He'd just been taken by surprise before, after all. And maybe, he thought, hopefully, it was just the surprise that had got to him before, and he wasn't in denial at all and it was all just one big misunderstanding.

He felt soft raindrops falling on his head, and he looked up to see dark clouds over head. "Perhaps we'd better go back…" he said, reluctantly. There must be romantic situations in the castle, he thought to himself, and rain against the windows was a nice romantic thing to have in the background.

"No!" Hermione insisted, sticking to her plan. "It's alright, it's just a bit of rain."

"But it looks like it might storm…"

"If it gets worse, we'll go back," Hermione promised. "It's not like we're going far…"

"Alright then." Ron gave in.

They were over the lake again by now, and looking down they could see themselves reflected in the glimmering dark surface, against a background of black clouds. The raindrops made rippling circles on the lake, overlapping and multiplying rapidly.

The rain still continued to fall steadily and softly however, despite the threatening clouds, and Hermione looked up so as to feel the water on her face. It dripped down her forehead and onto the end of her nose, and she could feel it running the other way too, into her hair. She was pleased – she quite liked the way her hair looked in the rain, it went almost curly and more subdued.

"This is nicer than last time, isn't it?" She said, carefully, testing her theory. She tried not to sound too eager though, in case she scared him again.

"It is," he agreed. "Er… Hermione…"

"Yes?" She asked, slightly worried. He was sounding nervous.

"You can lean on my shoulder again, if you like."

Hermione frowned, and thought quickly. This wasn't part of her analysis at all! She'd thought he was trying to avoid getting too close to her… but perhaps, she considered, she'd read the situation the wrong way… She realised that she had better do something, anyway, as any second now her hesitation would appear suspicious, and so she leaned back again, resting her head on his shoulder and gazing up at the increasingly dark clouds. 

"Are you comfortable like this?" she asked him, checking the situation from all angles.

"Perfectly," he nodded, and she thought she saw him smile. She could just about see him, from the corner of her eye, and she was sure that if she turned around just a little bit, she could look at him properly. She didn't, however, still not certain how this situation was working. 

Ron held Hermione a little tighter, and concentrated on exactly how he was feeling. He was aware of a rain drop running slowly down his nose, and of Hermione's damp hair on his shoulder, but he commanded himself to feel deeper than that. Real feelings, he told himself. He thought very hard on the subject of Hermione – how she always had something to say, how she always helped him with his homework even though she swore every time would be the last, how she always tried to convince the house-elves that they worked they worked too hard, the way she always wrote such long informative letters to his sister… and suddenly Ron realised, the warm tingly feeling that had resurfaced, might just possibly be love.

He felt a little daunted, but then somehow felt as though he was in a daze. Everything had started to move in slow motion, even the raindrop on his nose, and he felt as though even if they jumped off the broomstick, they'd still remain floating here, gliding around the lake in the rain, which was starting to get heavier by the second.

"Hermione," he was aware of himself saying, although he wasn't quite sure how, "look at me, a minute."

She looked around, a cute frown on her face as if she was trying to work out what he was thinking. Her hands gripped the broom tightly, keeping it on course to keep circling the lake, and then he saw a look of realisation in her eyes as she finally worked out what he was thinking. She didn't look horrified, he observed, dreamily, she looked like she was almost blushing, and very slowly she was beginning to smile widely.

He leaned towards her a little, and saw her shut her eyes, waiting. He closed his eyes too, and it felt like it was taking forever for their lips to meet, and just when he felt hers brush his…

Ron wasn't sure which came first, but suddenly there was a loud bang, a flash of lightening and a scream – Hermione's scream – and then the rain was falling heavily upon him and Hermione was falling rapidly towards the lake.  

***

Author's Notes 

Hope you all like this one! Big cliff-hanger! So I'm not going to upload this one until the next one is written – I don't want to leave you in too much suspense!

I'm sorry that sometimes at first the formatting is a bit strange, it always looks completely different when its uploaded and I have to move it around and re-upload it to fix it and it takes up to 24 hours to work so I don't always know what it looks like. I think I've worked out the right way to format it to make it show up right though, so should be alright from now on! 

            Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, it helps me a lot! And Zidane, they haven't quite told each other what they feel yet, but it's getting there! I hope it's worth the wait! You don't have too long to wait really – just a chapter or two. But that's not the end!

            And thanks to Jo for beta reading, by the way.


	8. Chapter Eight

            "Hermione!" Ron yelled, his voice silent above the noise of the thunder and the splashing of the rain on the lake. 

He was racing towards the lake faster than he knew he could fly, almost at a vertical slant. He could see Hermione hit the water, a small distance below him, and he threw himself off the broom towards her, the cold water stinging at his skin. Murky water filled his lungs instantly, and he could barely see anything through the dark water. To his immense relief, he found himself immediately colliding with her body under the water with some force. He held her tightly, gratefully, as he struck out for the surface. She was unconscious, and her weight was pulling him down, but somehow he managed to struggle to the top, gasping for air. 

The broom was waiting patiently above the water, circling around his head, and he reached for it, gripping it tightly with wet fingers slimy from lake weed. He coughed up water and tried to steady his breathing while holding onto the broom to keep him from sinking. Hermione was pale and he dared not think that she might be dead. Her hair was plastered around her face, flat and clingy, and her lips looked scarlet against the white of her skin. 

"Hermione, wake up, please wake up," he said, desperately, but she didn't move. He had no idea how he would get her onto the broom like this, but his hand was already moving to his pocket and pulling his wand out. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he attempted, and obediently her body rose out of his arms, hovering above the water. He panicked in his anxiety, and she fell back down again with a splash, but he grabbed hold of her hand as she fell past him, and tugged her back up again.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he tried again, and this time kept control as he watched her hover, willing her over, and she fell slowly this time, draped carelessly across the broomstick. He held her on carefully with one hand, and tried to pull himself up with the other. The broomstick lowered itself a little for him dutifully, and he fell clumsily into place behind Hermione. He pulled her upright, feeling her loll backwards heavily on him. He remembered her leaning on his shoulder earlier, how she'd turned round, and smiled, how they'd almost… The memories in his head seemed to run a lot more quickly than they'd done at the time.

He urged the broomstick upwards, and headed for the castle. He was shivering, his cold damp robes sticking to his skin uncomfortably, and Hermione's hair was dripping water down his neck, and heavy stinging rain falling about the two of them. Ron could barely hear the ominous thunder, so intent was he on reaching the castle safely, and when the lightening lit up the landscape, he didn't even notice.

Before he knew it, they were hovering before the castle, and they landed rather jerkily in the courtyard. His wet fingers slipped on the broom as his feet hit the ground and he found himself on a heap on the floor, landing on top of Hermione. He pulled her up, desperately, trying to see if she was hurt, but then something made him feel very dizzy, and he could vaguely hear a voice calling to him from across the courtyard, but then everything seemed to go black.

***

After that, things started to go a sort of green colour – or was it purple? - and then Ron found himself in Honeyduke's all alone, eating a very large bar of chocolate.

"I must be asleep, like Harry," Ron said aloud, through mouthfuls, but then colours merged again. 

Now he was sitting next to a sleeping Harry, and he was trying to tell him everything that had happened, but no words were coming out of his mouth. The more he tried, the less it seemed to work, until his mouth wouldn't open at all. 

Green or purple took over again, and then Ron found himself sitting on the broomstick with Hermione once more – a healthy, happy, smiling Hermione, leaning towards him and waiting for the kiss. Their lips barely touched when Ron was startled again, and suddenly found himself waking up.

What looked like their dormitory blurred into view around him, and to his surprise he found himself in bed. He sat up quickly. "Hermione?"

"Don't worry – she's fine." Ron noticed Ginny for the first time.

"She is? Where is she?"

"In the hospital wing. She banged her head, when you dropped her, so she needed to have stitches."

Ron winced. "Oh dear."

"You on the other hand, are fine, except you'll probably have a cold."

"I feel like I have," Ron agreed, gloomily. "Can I go and see her?"

"Well, she was just falling asleep when I left so I think you should leave it a little while. You can tell me all about your little adventure."

"Not much to tell," Ron said, picking up a box of chocolate frogs that somebody had put by his bedside, and leaning back again.

"Hermione told me a bit about it, but she was very tired and you know how she is, always says things calmly as if it's all perfectly logical. I want to know the exciting stuff!"

"What exciting stuff?"

"How you saved her life! She sort of skipped over that bit. Was it very romantic?"

"Well, it was quite," Ron said, beginning to enjoy playing the hero. "She was very heavy though."

"Did you think she was dead? Did you gather her up in your arms and whisk her back here?"

"I think so, I can't really remember."

Ginny sighed. "I hope something like that happens to me when I fall in love."

Ron looked a little alarmed. "Who said anything about love?"

"You mean, it hasn't made you realise you're hopelessly in love with her?" Ginny looked disappointed. 

"No. Why should it?"

"Because everybody knows you and Hermione would fall in love eventually… it was just waiting to happen." Ginny took one of his chocolate frogs, sighing hopelessly.

"Do you know," Ron said, changing the subject. "That if you sort of wave one of these frogs over Harry's nose, he sort of almost yawns and then wriggles his nose? It's the only thing that I can do to make him move."

"He moves all the time when I talk to him," Ginny said, surprised, and then blushed as Ron raised his eyebrows.

"Perhaps _you can go and play the hero and gather him up in your arms," he commented. "And then the whole adventure will make him realise just how much he's in love with you." _

Ginny blushed further. "Don't be so silly."

"Don't be so silly about me and Hermione either then," Ron said, firmly. "What do you know about last night, anyway? What happened when we got here? I don't remember."

"You fainted apparently," Ginny said, grateful for the change of subject. 

"Really?" Ron asked, in disgust. How girlish of him.

"And then Hagrid happened to be around, asking in the kitchens for empty jars for some kind of specimen he's hunting… and he picked you both up and took you straight to the hospital wing. Then he got Madam Pomfrey over here, and that was pretty much it. Hermione told me, and Madam Pomfrey told her. Oh, and as soon as Dumbledore found out, he told Mum to let me come here to make sure somebody was keeping an eye on Harry."

"So you're staying here, then?"

"Yes," Ginny said, proudly. "I've already read Harry three chapters of his Potions textbook, as he's missing out on the homework, and you know what Snape's like. And I've told him all about what happened to you and Hermione, and I also told him about –"

"Didn't you get bored?"

"Not really, it's quite relaxing. I'll do it all if you like, you and Hermione can concentrate on getting better. Or falling in love."

"Ginny!"

"Sorry." She paused. "Perhaps you'd better go and see her now. I'm sure she won't mind being woken up for you."

***

Hermione was sleeping so peacefully that Ron almost didn't want to wake her. She had regained her normal healthy colour, and he noticed rather guiltily the bandage around her head. 

He sat down on the chair beside her bed, intending to watch her sleep, but it didn't take very long before she opened her eyes, and smiled at Ron, showing no surprise that he was there.

"Hello," she said, softly.

"Hello," he replied. "Er, I'm sorry about your head."

"Don't worry… I'm just grateful that's all that happened to me. I could've died." She spoke seriously, and bit her lip.

Ron said nothing, embarrassed. He looked down at his hands, and wondered how to fill the gap in the conversation. He wasn't sure if she remembered him almost kissing her, and he had absolutely no idea how to raise the question.

"How long will you be in here then?" He asked, resorting to the easiest question.

"Madam Pomfrey says I can go whenever I like, actually," she said, looking up at him again. "I might move back to the dormitories tonight."

Ron nodded. "I hope you do, I'll miss you over here."

He was surprised to see Hermione blush. She always seemed so cool and confident; it was strange to see her blush at such a simple compliment. He reached out to stroke her hand comfortingly, but she pulled away.

Such un-Hermione like behaviour worried him, and he stood up quickly. "I'd better go… I've got to write back to Mum, promising I'll look out for Ginny and all that."

Hermione nodded. "I'll see you later then."

"See you later."

After he'd gone, Hermione frowned at herself. Why did she have to act so awkward around him now? It was just a stupid dream. And it had been a dream, of course. Why would Ron have tried to kiss her when he'd spent the whole of last week sulking because he thought she had a crush on him? The most difficult to answer question was though, why would Hermione dream about Ron trying to kiss her?

It was just a dream, Hermione reminded herself, and resolved to forget about it very quickly. The sooner she and Ron got back to playful arguments the better. No more sulking or lying or strange dreams or sudden blushing. 

***

**A/N**

I hope this chapter was alright, and that all the sudden drama wasn't too… sudden. I hope it all fits. Sorry for so much more suspense but I can't help it, it seems to write itself. Don't worry though… it's all going somewhere, I promise.

 Hope you all like it, and please review! Thanks to Jo for beta'ing, again.

**Codypup** I searched through chapter six and I couldn't quite work out what you were referring to! I'm very intrigued though so do let me know… did you mean chapter six, or chapter five?

Thankyou to everyone else who reviewed!


	9. Chapter Nine

            Sooner or later, feeling like this would fade, Hermione told herself. Her thoughts echoed those of the previous week, and jarred horribly in her head. She couldn't say everything was a phase, she thought, slightly horrified. Perhaps thinking everything was just a phase was just a phase. Her mind began to swim around in circles, thoughts colliding with other thoughts and somewhere in the middle of it all a warm fuzzy feeling refused to subside.

            "You've probably just still got concussion," she said aloud, attempting to calm her thoughts down. 

            "No, you haven't," Madam Pomfrey commented, happening to arrive in the doorway, and Hermione flushed scarlet. "You're perfectly alright. Didn't you go back with your friend? There's no need for you to stay here now, and it's easier to keep the hospital wing closed."

            "Yes, I'll just go now." Hermione stood up, feeling slightly dazed, and began to walk towards the door.

            "Hope you have a nice time!" Madam Pomfrey called cheerfully after her. "See you when Harry wakes up!"

            Hermione called something in reply, but she wasn't quite sure what it was, so intent was she on trying to work out her thoughts. She shivered a little in the castle corridors, crossing her arms to keep herself warm. She was dressed in a hospital nightgown, which although felt wonderfully comfortable, and almost like wearing cotton wool, was rather thin and flimsy, and not well insulating. Never mind, she consoled herself, it wouldn't be long until she reached the dormitory and then she could change.

            She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Ron until she'd practically bumped into him. He'd been walking slowly, equally lost in daydreams, and they both blushed when they noticed each other.

            "I… I was just on my way to the dormitory," Hermione said, trying to remain calm.

            "Yeah, so was I," mumbled Ron. He noticed Hermione was shivering, and spoke kindly, "Shall we hurry? You look cold."

            "Alright then," Hermione agreed, quietly, and they began to walk together up the stairs.

            Ron tried to catch discreet sideward glances at her. Now that he had sort of accepted the whole idea (although he didn't like to think about it directly and think the actual words) he had expected things to feel different, more exciting. But nothing really felt any different than it had last week. Things were still slightly awkward and he had no idea what to say. Even last week though, Hermione had acted pretty much her usual self, he recalled. Now she was quiet and uncomfortable around him, as though something was on her mind too. She must remember, he realised, with a disappointing thud in his heart, and obviously she didn't feel the same, not according the chapter on body language anyway. Unless, he brightened up hopefully, she was in denial.

            "So," he asked, choosing his words carefully. "How are you feeling?"

            "I feel much better," she said, and didn't look up to meet his gaze. "Just a cold."

            "I've got one too," Ron said, sympathetically. "But Fred and George sent us a huge box of their new cough sweets, I don't think they've fully tested them yet but they seem alright…" He tailed off. Even this bait had not worked in tempting Hermione to act like her former self. She seemed as though she hadn't fully taken in what he'd said.

            "Oh, really?" she seemed distracted, when she spoke at last. "I'm sure they'll be alright."

            That was it, Ron decided firmly, she really wasn't herself after all. But how was he supposed to fix things? 

            "Ron..."

            "Yes?" Ron quickly replied, guiltily. She had stopped, hovering awkwardly in the corridor outside the dormitory and he followed her lead, standing next to her, but not too close.

            "Thank-you, for saving my life yesterday," she said, awkwardly. "I should have said that before, but I forgot." She forced herself to look up at him and smile. Her thoughts spun around a little again, but she fought to remain in control.

            "No problem," Ron muttered. "It was sort of my fault, anyway…"

            "No, it wasn't," Hermione frowned. "It was just the lightening that startled me, that's all…" she tailed off, feeling her cheeks becoming red. Ron had also turned scarlet and was absorbed in examining his fingernails. Then they both spoke at once:

            "Ron…"

            "Hermione…"

            They both tailed off into nervous giggles, and Ron said, "You first."

            "I… did I dream it?" Hermione spoke seriously suddenly, playing carefully. If it had all been a dream, he wouldn't know what she was talking about. But if he reacted to this sentence, she'd know. 

            "Dream what?" Ron said, a defence mechanism kicking in. 

            "Oh, nothing," Hermione said. "I guess I must have done then."

            She moved towards the door, suddenly relieved that it had been a dream. There were less complications now, less things to work out. But then she seemed to feel disappointed, and she was surprised at herself. She hadn't expected to feel that, after all, it wasn't like she'd been expecting – hoping – for it to be anything other than a dream? She frowned slightly, and then felt Ron's hand on her wrist, stopping her gently from opening the door.

            "Hermione," he blurted, suddenly. "It wasn't a dream."

            Hermione stared at him in surprise. Something inside her was telling her to say 'oh, I did beat you at chess then?' or some other kind of unrelated confident answer, but somewhere else inside was perhaps… glad. He was looking at her, waiting for an answer, looking increasingly more worried by the minute, but she was at a loss for anything to say to him. She tried to find words, but the rest of her seemed unable to respond to her mind, and so finally she gave up, and let herself talk without thinking.

            "Ronald Weasley, did you _really_ try and kiss me yesterday?"

            Ron broke out into a grin. This was the old Hermione back, no more 'in denial' or feeling shy. "Yeah, that's right," he said, firmly. "I did."

            "Then…" she began, equally grateful she had found herself again, "Perhaps we'd better try it again." She stepped closer to him, surprised but pleased at the words coming from her mouth. Besides, the look on Ron's face made it worth the effort.

            He felt the return of that warm tingly feeling but this time, knowing what it meant, he could fully enjoy it. It was like that nice stage of pins and needles, when it was all warm and fuzzy, before it went into the painful part. This wasn't going to get painful though, he assured himself of that, as his arms slipped around Hermione's waist, and she put her hands on his shoulders.

            This was a much better location than the broomstick, what had he been thinking last night? He closed his eyes slowly. Now he wouldn't have to read that stupid book anymore, either. Lips barely inches away…. And, he remembered, his mind still not quite able to slow down, they still had three whole weeks all alone… 

His lips finally met hers with an intensity that would've surprised him if it hadn't dissolved all conscious thought in his head. He forgot all about pins and needles, books and even time, as he was suddenly absorbed in kissing Hermione.

Various events of the last week vaguely began to make sense to Hermione, but she didn't really care anymore. As long as it was alright now, and forever, it didn't matter. And it probably would be, she considered, lazily. _This _wasn't just a phase. She wondered why the idea of being in love with Ron hadn't occurred to her before, not even once. Maybe she'd been thinking too much. Maybe she was thinking too much now, maybe she should stop thinking and just _feel. She'd never been good at clearing her mind, but now suddenly it seemed so much easier. She didn't even have to try, all she had to do was focus on Ron's warm body against her cold one, his hands on her waist, his tongue against hers… and then she was so overwhelmed with sensation that all the thoughts in her head didn't matter._

Suddenly the dormitory door opened and their was a brief excited squeal, and the sound of Ginny running back into the room and jumping on her bed.

Ron and Hermione broke apart, a little breathlessly and blushing, hastily reminded that they weren't alone in the castle anymore.

"Don't worry!" Ginny called, facing away from the doorway and scrambling under her bed for her quill. "Carry on! I'm not looking!"

"Hermione Granger," Ron whispered, still grinning. "Did you just let me kiss you?"

Hermione looked up at Ron, smiling warmly. "Yes I did," she whispered back, glancing over at Ginny, who was scribbling frantically on a piece of parchment. "And I'm glad I did, too."

"So am I," Ron said, quite needlessly. 

"You don't have to hold me quite so tightly," Hermione teased, I've got nowhere to fall this time."

"Maybe I just like holding you tightly." He told her, squeezing her so much that she giggled. 

Ginny put her head round the door, eyes closed. "Carry on," she said again. "I'm just going to the Owlery…" She ran past them quickly and skipped down the stairs before an alarmed looking Ron could catch her.

"Leave it…" Hermione smiled, pulling him back gently. "People will find out sooner or later."

"I suppose so," Ron agreed, although he didn't look certain. "But anyway, you should change. That nightie is horrible."

"I know," Hermione pushed open the door of the dormitory and led him in, holding his hand. "It's not very romantic, is it?"

Ron lay back on his bed happily as Hermione changed behind the closed curtains of her own bed. With an air of smugness about him, he tore up his carefully scribbled diagram and threw it out of the window. He almost threw the book out after it, but decided against it while Hermione was around. She might not think much of that book but he had a feeling that wouldn't stop her protesting. He slid it under his bed where he didn't have to see it.

Hermione, now fully dressed, emerged from her bed just as Ginny appeared, breathless from running all up the stairs. "Tell me to go away if you like," she said, hopefully, "But I just wanted to ask a few questions…"

Ron sighed, and looked slightly annoyed, but Hermione came and sat on the end of his bed, and smiled good-naturedly. "Go on then," she said.

Ginny squealed with excitement and sat down on her own bed, opposite them. "So what happened? Was it terribly romantic? Are you going to live happily ever after?"

At that moment, Pigwidgeon arrived at the window, cooing persistently as Ginny jumped up to let her in. She reached to get the parcel that the owl was clutching, but Pidwigeon swooped around her and dropped the parcel in Ron's lap. He read out the accompanying note, suspiciously: "Dear Ron and Hermione, we have just heard your great news and want to thank you for allowing us to win our bet against Harry. When he wakes up, you can tell him that he owes us five Galleons and when school starts he has to fly around the Quidditch pitch in his underwear – and we'll come and see it personally. As for you two, please accept this further box of our merchandise as a thank-you, and let us know how things go with Harry and Ginny for the purposes of our bet against Bill. Cheers! Love, Fred and George."

Ginny's smile had turned into one of outrage. "They said they'd give me half the proceeds from the bet if I told them!" she cried. "But they didn't tell me it was against Harry, or that they'd make him fly around in his underwear… or…" She stood up, blushing crossly. "I'm going to go and write them another letter. And one to Mum too!" she disappeared towards the Owlery, and Pigwidgeon had disappeared again, picking up her quill and more parchment on the way.

Ron was also looking rather annoyed. "I can't believe they made bets on us! You too, Harry!" He looked over at his sleeping friend, reproachfully.

"I knew actually," Hermione admitted. "Ages ago… I just never thought anything of it, cuz I didn't expect…" She paused, and smiled at him. "Anyway, it doesn't matter, does it?"

"I suppose not. And they were only right by coincidence," Ron insisted, not wanting to let his brothers have anything to do with something so important.

"Of course," Hermione agreed, although secretly she wondered if it hadn't been so obvious after all. Now that she looked back, everything seemed to make sense. She didn't want to look back though, she just wanted to look forward. Three whole weeks practically alone here, to make the most of the newly discovered feelings, and then plenty of time to reprimand Harry about his bet with Fred and George…

***

**A/N**

Well here you go! It's finally happened. Hope it's been worth the wait and stuff… and don't worry, it doesn't mean it's the end. I've got more stuff worked out for the next bits.

**Codypup**, I know exactly what you mean now, and no… it wasn't intended to be dirty, but I did think as I was writing it that it could be misinterpreted but then put that down to my own dirty mind! So, no, technically it's not supposed to be dirty…  but I can totally see how it could be interpreted as such.


	10. Chapter Ten

"How are you feeling now?" Ginny kneeled down beside Harry's bed. "You're still smiling, that's good I suppose. Ron and Hermione have gone out flying or something… Did you overhear our conversation earlier? They're together now, you know. Properly. I don't quite know how it happened. I walked in on them kissing earlier, that's how I know. And… Fred and George wrote them a letter, saying about the bet you did with them. Ron's not that happy about it but probably he'll have forgotten by the time you wake up. Oh…" 

She leaned her head on her elbows, which were resting on Harry's bed. "I didn't mean to say that. I don't want you to take ages to wake up, I want you to wake up now."

She looked up, almost as if she expected him to obey her wishes, but he showed no signs of waking and she continued. "Anyway, they've got a bet about…" she bit her lip, "well, _us. Can you imagine? I suppose… maybe we're not much different from Ron and Hermione really. I mean… everyone knows we'll get together too… I know it. And I think you do too. I wouldn't say this, if you were awake you know," she reminded him, just in case he was thinking things. "Do you know what I think? I think that we both do… like each other… we've just been waiting for the right moment. Because we haven't really had a right moment so far, have we?"_

Her feet were aching and she pulled them out from underneath her to sit cross-legged. "But we will," she assured him. "Oh, I hope you don't remember this conversation when you wake up. I hope it's one of those nice things that go into your sub-conscious without you knowing. You're smiling again! Why are you smiling? I'm going to stop talking about this now. Your smile's worrying me. So, shall I tell you about Fred and George's new products, instead?"

***

Hermione and Ron emerged cheerfully from the broom shed into the afternoon dimming light, hand in hand. They were both still feeling ever so slightly dizzy from their turbulent emotions, and every now and then Ron would squeeze Hermione's hand and she would giggle, or she would reach out and ruffle his hair and he'd push her hand away playfully.

"You do it all this time," Hermione said, handing him the broom. "I've had enough of all that. I just want to sit and enjoy things."

"Alright then." He climbed onto the broom and held it steady for her to climb on behind.

"Do you think we'll still argue all the time?" Hermione asked suddenly, as they took off.

"I don't know really, I mean, things still feel sort of the same, don't they?"

"Sort of," she agreed. "Just… more."

"Maybe we'll argue more then!" Ron teased.

"Oh, I hope not. I don't mind if we argue a little bit… but all the time would just be horrible. It'd be ten times worse than any of the arguments we've had before, just because…"

"Just because," Ron agreed. 

"Oh, Ron." Hermione sighed, and kissed the back of his head. "Maybe we should've done this sooner. We've got three weeks left… and if we'd sorted this out before we'd have four weeks… maybe even five."

"Yeah, but we'll have other times alone. We've got… we've got the rest of our lives together."

Hermione sighed again. "Oh don't, I'll get like Ginny. All swoony and sighy just because of you looking at me, or something."

"So you should." Ron grinned. "I don't want you to just take me for granted.

"Don't be silly. I can find a balance. Somewhere in between swoony and ungrateful."

"I rather like the idea of you fainting at my every word."

"You'd soon get sick of that. Besides… think about it… I fell off a broom and into a lake when you first tried to kiss me... isn't that enough for you?"

"Bloody hell, yes. Are you holding on tightly?"

"Of course I am. I was just pointing it out, I didn't mean for you to get so protective of me," she rubbed her nose against his hair, not wanting to take either of her hands away from his waist.

"That feels nice."

"What does?"

"When you play with my hair. Do it again."

***

Dear Fred and George,

I found out about your bet about me and Harry, and you should've told me! I can't believe you got me to tell you about Ron and Hermione and you didn't tell me that. Anyway, that's not the point. I think that as Harry is ill he should be let off the Ron and Hermione bet. The bit about flying around in his underwear, anyway. If you let him off that bit I'll wash all your socks for a month (but don't tell him about that bit cuz he's probably too proud to have me get him out of trouble). And, please please please send some more sweets!

Love

Ginny

xx 

Dear Mum,

Everything is fine and I have not died of starvation (the house elves are very reliable even in the holidays), I have not gone into any forbidden rooms or corridors (I wouldn't even know where to start) and I have been getting plenty of sleep (even though Ron snores. Its worse than you'd imagine when you're in the same room). Ron and Hermione are still alright, they have gone flying, I think. Fred and George are making silly bets again but I don't mind. Harry is fine. He is still smiling.

Love

Ginny  
         xx

Dear Hermione,

I'm going to leave this under your pillow because I'm tired and probably will be asleep when you get back and I have questions! You can write the answers on the other side of this parchment if you are shy about it, or you can just tell me whenever. If you want you can miss some questions out. 1. Is Ron a better kisser than Victor? (But don't go into too much detail cuz he is my brother!) 2. Do you think you'll live happily ever after? 3. What do you think you'll call your kids? Can I babysit when you and Ron are on holiday? 4. How long have you fancied each other? 5. Is it heavenly?

Love

Ginny

xx

Dear Ginny,

1. I never kissed Victor. Really. But Ron is a good kisser.

2. I hope so. Actually, I know so.

3. I have no idea, Ginny, it's only been a day. But I'm sure you can babysit.

4. Probably forever.

5. YES. 

Love

Hermione

xx


	11. Chapter Eleven

A/N: Here are the last two chapters and the epilogue. They've not been beta'd yet, but I figured you'd waited long enough. They will be being beta'd soon!  
  
---------------  
  
"Do you want me to go and tell the house elves what we want for dinner?" Ginny asked. Hermione didn't look as though she'd ever sit up, away from Ron's arms that were currently around her waist, as she read to him.  
  
"Please," Hermione told her gratefully. "We're in the middle of a good bit."  
  
"The whole book's a good bit," Ron said, but he couldn't repress a snigger.  
  
"Oh, stop it, there's a really good chapter next. You'll like that one."  
  
"Alright then. I'll believe you, like I do about this one."  
  
"It's the chapter when he gets the girl! It's ever so sweet," Ginny pointed out. It was her book that she'd lent them - it had just kept reminding her of them anyway.  
  
"Now there's something I can identify with!" Ron sounded cheerful. "Hurry up and lets get to the next chapter then."  
  
"I'm going to go to the library and do my Potions homework after I've seen the House Elves," Ginny said, picking up her books from the floor. "Bye, you two; bye, Harry!" She waved at him and then disappeared down the stairs.  
  
"It's cute, isn't it?" Hermione said, her head on one side thoughtfully.  
  
"Yeah, it is. Just boring. But the next chapter sounds much more fun."  
  
"Silly, I didn't mean the book. I meant Ginny and Harry."  
  
"Oh, that. I don't know what the big deal is about really." Ron sounded nonchalant.  
  
"Oh, Ron! Don't hide your romantic side. Can't you see they're made for each other?" Hermione laughed at him.  
  
"I suppose so."  
  
Hermione said nothing, but turned to look at him, raised eyebrows.  
  
Ron sighed. "It's just. I don't know, she's my sister. And Harry's. Harry."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Ginny's like, eight or something."  
  
"Ron, she's fourteen." Hermione smiled.  
  
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem it."  
  
"She has to grow up someday, and besides, wouldn't you rather it was good old Harry, and not Draco Malfoy or Crabbe or Goyle or something?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. I suppose you're right. It's just weird." Ron gave a little shudder for effect.  
  
"Didn't you think the idea of us together was weird once?"  
  
"Yeah. I did. Alright, I give in. You are right, as ever, Miss Know-it- all." He squeezed her tighter and grinned.  
  
Hermione grinned. "Anyway, shall we read on?"  
  
***  
  
A week now, Ginny considered as she hurried down the stairs. A week, and Ron and Hermione were still acting inseparable and overwhelmed. That's the way a relationship should be, of course. Ginny had firm hopes that this would be how it was for Harry and her one day. She remembered the smile on his face earlier, as she'd spoken to him, and hoped again that he hadn't been consciously listening. It was so easy, when talking to peaceful Harry, to just keep going and not stop at all. All her thoughts would spill out before she'd even acknowledged them, and she'd only realise too late.  
  
When she looked at Harry, and watched him smile, she had a funny sensation inside and a hope that maybe, possibly, he was thinking about her. She knew that one day he'd be in love with her, and she couldn't explain how she knew, but she also had an idea that she mustn't push things. Rushing things could ruin the whole would-be relationship: if Harry hadn't come to the realisations of 'one day' that she had, it could put him off the idea. But it was so hard, she felt, to judge the right time. What if they just let it go straight past and miss them completely?  
  
But it was feeling right now. More right every day. Every time she saw Ron and Hermione smile at one another, blow kisses at each other despite the fact they were only a few paces apart, offer to fetch things for one another. she knew that that was what she wanted. The more she observed, the more she felt she understood it, and then everything would come down to Harry's peaceful enigmatic smile and the knowledge that he probably knew everything she was thinking, while she knew none of what was in his mind.  
  
Except that he was happy. And that was enough, for now.  
  
***  
  
Ron jumped off his bed and skidded across the floor, coming to a stop on his knees by Harry's bed. His manoeuvre was disrupted by a dress of Ginny's lying carelessly across the floor, and he pulled it out from underneath him in annoyance.  
  
"Really, you'd think Ginny could leave things on her bit of floor, wouldn't you?" He commented to Harry, as he threw the dress neatly across the room onto Ginny's bed. "Now, wait - I know what you're thinking, and yes, those are Hermione's books all over my bed. But that's different. She's my girlfriend." He sighed, and leaned back so that he was lying on the floor. "My girlfriend!"  
  
"So, you lost the bet," he was reminded. "Serves you right for betting on me and Hermione anyway. But I can't see why you thought we wouldn't get together. I mean, we're made for each other. And everyone says it was obvious all along. Just didn't want to rush things," he confided. "Love's delicate and all that. And there's this really weird thing called denial. But I guess you'll learn all about that when you and Ginny get it together, won't you? Oh, I'm sorry, mate, but earlier Fred and George wrote and asked if I wanted to bet on you and Ginny. So I did. Earlier, I was thinking that it was all a bit weird but then Hermione changed my mind. Oh, but if I win," he added. "I'll give you half. Fair's fair."  
  
He was sure Harry would think this was a fair deal, and besides, he didn't have a chance to say no.  
  
"I don't know where the girls are," Ron reflected, gloomily. "They've gone all girlie on me. Some kind of girlie talk. Ginny keeps asking all these questions about fainting and blushing and swooning and all those things in romance novels. And earlier, I'm sure I heard her ask Hermione something about tongues." He rolled his eyes. "Really." 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Another week later, nothing felt any different. But somehow, when Ginny opened her eyes, she felt something strange and dreamlike absorb her. It felt as though she was still asleep, but when she sat up and rubbed her eyes, it all seemed real enough. Ron and Hermione were still asleep, she noticed. They were in separate beds, but Hermione had given up her bed to Ginny and had instead taken the one on the other side of Ron. They were facing each other, as though they had fallen asleep looking at one another: Ron snoring softly, and Hermione's face hidden beneath her hair.  
  
Ginny slipped out of bed, and stood up. She stretched, from her hands to her toes, but the strange feeling didn't disappear.  
  
In the bathroom, she went straight to the mirror, and gazed at her reflection. She looked the same. Same long red hair, same green eyes which she'd often proudly compared to Harry's. Same delicate figure beneath her nightie. She began to brush her hair, still watching herself. There was a strange sparkle in her eyes that she hadn't really noticed before, and when she frowned, it didn't disappear.  
  
Satisfied with her hair, Ginny put the brush down, and gave one last glance at the mirror. The feelings were forcing her lips into a smile, and somehow the girl gazing back at her in the mirror seemed to know something that she didn't. A smile that seemed to say things in a language Ginny didn't quite understand. To her surprise, she saw her reflection nod to her, and then she realised she really was nodding. A confirmation - for what?  
  
She made her way back into the bedroom. Everyone was still sleeping. But Harry had stopped smiling.  
  
She dropped to her knees by his side, and reached out softly, to stroke his cheek. There was still no smile. He was frowning slightly, as though he was thinking, and uncertain. He wriggled his nose as her hand brushed against it, and Ginny leaned back and watched him think. After so many weeks of sleeping, his hair was extremely ruffled and he looked like he needed a haircut. She could barely see his scar beneath the hair over his forehead.  
  
What Ginny missed most, perhaps, if she didn't include conversation, was his eyes. She'd always loved to look at his eyes, daring herself to look for as long as she could before he caught her. Shining green, intense and complicated. Sometimes happy, sometimes troubled. And now hidden from her, beneath his eyelids and dark lashes.  
  
As she watched, his frown softened, and his lips moved apart as if he might speak, and Ginny caught her breath. But almost as soon as it had happened, his frown reappeared. Lips paused. Hesitated.  
  
Ginny felt her heart beat race and it felt so strong in her chest she felt as though she should collapse with the weight of it all, if it wasn't for the light-headed feeling that rushing through her. Contradicting sensations raced to her mind, and she felt breathless and dazed. She felt herself tip forward slightly, as though she really would collapse, and she gripped onto the bed to steady herself.  
  
After that, everything came to her without her evening thinking about it. It really was the right moment. It had to be.  
  
She felt herself lean forward, and inside she was surprised by her sudden certainty, but there was no holding back now. She stopped sitting on her feet and put all her weight on her knees. Her left hand pushed her long hair out of the way as she leant down over Harry, and felt her mouth pressed against hiss.  
  
He stirred beneath her, and she realised that his fingers, next to her right hand on the bed, were wriggling, tentatively. She covered his hand with his, and felt a response from his lips. They moved, gently, softly, against hers, and then more firmly. His hand squeezed hers back, and she broke away, breathlessly.  
  
She had to check, or she'd never believe her imagination. She had to see his green eyes, see what shone in them, had been hidden from her.  
  
Harry blinked sleepily but never took his eyes from her. One hand was still under hers, and his other hand moved to his hair, as though he could sense the state it was in.  
  
Ginny gazed back, hardly daring to believe it, and then she was suddenly distracted by a movement on the other side of the room. Hermione was pulling a stunned looking Ron from his bed, and smiling apologetically at Ginny, and then Harry. She dragged Ron across the room, who looked like he had a hundred things to say but wasn't sure how to say any of them, and then he was gone with Hermione through the door. Ginny wondered how long they'd been awake, what they'd seen, but really, it didn't matter anymore.  
  
Like Ron, all words had suddenly escaped her. She stared stupidly at Harry, having to constantly remind herself that she wasn't dreaming, much as this moment was like countless dreams she'd had recently.  
  
"Hello, Ginny," Harry said at last. "Can you do that again? I was half asleep the first time."  
  
Still wordlessly, Ginny shut her eyes and leaned in again. This time, Harry's lips were firmly responsive immediately, and his other hand moved slowly to her hair, pulling it away from where it was hanging down over their kiss. Ginny felt herself shiver at the sensation of his fingers against his face, and willed all of this new tingling feeling towards the kiss. So this was it. This was the moment.  
  
It seemed forever before they broke apart this time. When they did so, it was because her knees were aching, and she reluctantly pulled back.  
  
"Pins and needles," she said, apologetically, and her words sounded strange in the silence she'd become accustomed to.  
  
Harry laughed. "That's the first thing you tell me, after everything?"  
  
Ginny stood up, rubbing some feeling into her legs. "Well, you know everything else, don't you? You were listening."  
  
"I was listening," Harry admitted. "But nothing really seemed to. it was all like a dream. Now it's like. a different kind of dream."  
  
"I know what you mean." She crossed her arms awkwardly, looking down at him. "Can I sit on the bed?"  
  
He nodded. "Go on. Tell me everything that happened while I was asleep then. How long has it been?"  
  
Ginny sat down on the edge of his bed, and smoothed her nightie over her legs. "About five weeks, I think."  
  
"Really? It felt like ten minutes!"  
  
She was quiet. "Maybe you don't remember everything then," she said, at last.  
  
"Oh, I remember everything. I remember Ron and Hermione snogging all over the place. and once, she was sitting right where you are now and Ron still couldn't keep his lips off her." Harry sniggered as he remembered. "And I remember Hermione reading your letters to me, and then I remember, you were here." He looked at her and smiled. "And I remember what you told me, then."  
  
Ginny blushed.  
  
"But I knew it anyway, I think. It's hard to remember, everything seems hazy."  
  
"I should tell Madam Pomfrey that you're here," Ginny said, suddenly, remembering their instructions.  
  
"No need for that," a brisk voice said behind her, and there was Madam Pomfrey, setting her medical bag down on the other bed and pulling out a stethoscope. "Ginny, do you think you could leave us for a moment? You might confuse him, being here, and I've got some important answers." She smiled, unexpectedly warmly. "We won't be long."  
  
"Of course." Ginny stood up quickly, and tried to remain calm. Her heart still felt heavy in her chest, and her head felt as though it wasn't there altogether. She gave Harry a quick smile, before she left.  
  
***  
  
Ron and Hermione were where she had expected, sitting outside on the grass eating sandwiches that they had got from the House Elves. They both looked up as she arrived, and Hermione nudged Ron.  
  
"Hello, Ginny," she said, sounding suspiciously casual. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm alright." Ginny sat down next to them, and leaned back onto the grass. She gazed up at the blue sky. She'd read, that when you were properly in love, everything seemed so much more beautiful and alive, but that didn't to be the case. The sky looked boring, grey-white clouds that faded into a pale blue background. Nothing seemed beautiful, in comparison to Harry. The green of the grass was dull, nothing like the sharp green of Harry's eyes.  
  
"What are you thinking?" Ron asked her, frowning, and was nudged again by Hermione.  
  
"I'm thinking about Harry," said Ginny, truthfully. Her fingers plucked lazily at strands of grass. She was still in her nightie, she realised, and smiled. Like it mattered.  
  
Hermione squeezed Ron's arm hard, and tried to approach the issue tactfully. "Harry, er, looked awake," she said, and Ron rolled his eyes, nudging her this time.  
  
"He was awake. Very awake. Madam Pomfrey's with him now."  
  
"And you kissed him!" Ron blurted, holding Hermione's hands still with his own.  
  
"I did," Ginny confirmed. "And he woke up."  
  
As she sat up, she saw Ron and Hermione glance at one another, and smiled to herself. She remembered how eager she'd been to ask them questions, when she had found out about them. And now, it was her turn to have all the answers.  
  
Ron and Hermione were having a silent conversation consisting of frantic glances and squeezed hands, a few moments later, when Harry appeared. His hand was in his hair again, still trying to flatten it, and he smiled as though he couldn't do anything but.  
  
He approached them silently, sitting down next to Ginny, his hand finding hers on the grass. She didn't break the silence, squeezing his hand gratefully.  
  
Hermione was smiling too, for once lost for words, and it was Ron who spoke first.  
  
"You should've woken up ages ago," he reprimanded. "You've only got a week left before school. All the time you've wasted!"  
  
"I know," Harry smiled ruefully. "Stupid of me really."  
  
"I did all your homework for you," Hermione admitted, a little reluctantly.  
  
"You did?" Ron looked indignant. "What about mine?"  
  
"You haven't been asleep."  
  
"No, but I've been through severe stress! Think about it: first my best friend goes and suddenly acts like he's dead - no offence, Harry, but it seemed like it - then my other best friend turns out to be secretly in love with me and once I recover from denial I nearly kill her but then save her life heroically. Then my brothers are making bets left right and centre, and then my little sister goes and falls in love with the nearly dead best friend!" He stared at Hermione, triumphant with his excuse.  
  
"Well." said Harry, lazily. "I think that summed it all up pretty well." 


	13. Epilogue

The last week passed by quicker than they had imagined.  
  
On the Monday, Fred and George arrived, ready to make a compromise with their bet. Harry would fly around the Quidditch pitch in his underwear, but Fred and George kindly agreed that he could do it now, before school started, in the relative privacy of just the two of them, Ron and Hermione, and Ginny, who would still have to wash their socks for a month. Fred and George were disappointed by the rather uneventful affair it turned out to be: Ron was too busy laughing to watch, Hermione was looking away discreetly, and Ginny was very red underneath her hands over her eyes.  
  
On Tuesday, Snape arrived at Hogwarts to make prepare his dungeons. He seemed to glare at them even more fiercely as the two couples walked around the school, hand in hand. But it didn't matter, because in the holidays, he couldn't take away house points. And it was a whole five days until school started. 'That's like, forever,' Ron said, blissfully, during one sunset with Hermione.  
  
Wednesday was uneventful. Ron and Hermione finished their book, and he agreed that it had got better towards the end. He promised to be the one to read the next one aloud.  
  
It was on Thursday that Ginny tried to cut Harry's hair. The more she cut, the less it seemed to have any effect, until she turned away for a moment and upon her return, it looked just as it ever had. They decided not to risk disturbing it anymore, and went for a picnic outside instead.  
  
Molly came to visit them on Friday. She spent most of her day gazing proudly at Ron and Hermione, and Ginny and Harry, and making carefully casual comments about how nice brides looked in ivory and pink these days, and what a lovely name Alexandra would be for a girl. Ginny and Ron gave Hermione and Harry apologetic smiles.  
  
On Saturday, Dumbledore appeared unexpectedly in the common room. He told them that they would be attending school as normal on Monday, and not to mention to anybody about staying here over the holidays. He also rather mysteriously, congratulated them on 'recent events' and mentioned that he was pleased everything had gone to plan. Hermione had frowned, Ron had looked bemused, Harry had been surprised, and Ginny blushed.  
  
Finally, on Sunday, they came to the realisation that this was their last day. They spent the day trying to be cheerful outside, enjoying having the Quidditch pitch to themselves, and they realised, to most the surprise of three of them, that Ginny was actually quite a good Seeker. Hermione spent most of the time watching them from below, smiling proudly at Ron's Keeping.  
  
That evening, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione lay on the grass in the twilight and looked up at the stars.  
  
"Just think," Hermione said, sadly, "this is the last time we'll look up at the stars like this, all alone here."  
  
"That one's not a star, Hermione Granger, that's Venus," Ron teased, and wriggled away as she tickled him in revenge.  
  
"Something of it will still go on," Ginny said, seriously. "Everything we've learnt will stay with us."  
  
"Very wise, Ginny." Harry smiled at her. "I agree with you."  
  
"So do I," Ron said breathlessly, pinning Hermione's hands by her side. "Totally."  
  
"Me too." Hermione nodded, and relaxed in Ron's grip, surrendering. "You know, we should go to bed. It's a big day tomorrow."  
  
They stood up, dusting the grass off each other, and gazed up at the stars in farewell.  
  
"I suppose this is the end," Ron said, sighing dramatically.  
  
"Not the end, Ron," Ginny told him. "There's all of forever to go yet." 


End file.
